S-493                 _______________________________________________

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 5042

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1987 Regular Session

By Senator DeJarnatt

Read first time 1/13/87 and referred to Committee on Judiciary.

AN ACT Relating to write-in voting; and amending RCW 29.51.170.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

        Sec. 1.  Section 29.51.170, chapter 9, Laws of 1965 as last amended by section 1, chapter 121, Laws of 1973 1st ex. sess. and RCW 29.51.170 are each amended to read as follows:

          At any election or primary, any voter may write in on the ballot the name of any person for whom he desires to vote for any office and such vote shall be counted the same as if the name had been printed on the ballot and marked by the voter:  PROVIDED, That no write-in vote for a partisan office at a general election shall be valid for any person who has offered himself as a candidate for such position for the nomination at the preceding primary:  PROVIDED, FURTHER, That when paper ballots or voting machines or voting devices and ballot cards are used, no write-in vote for any candidate for a partisan office at either a state primary election or state general election shall be valid unless a political party affiliation is also written by the voter after the candidate's name:  AND PROVIDED FURTHER, That in the instance of a write-in candidate for a partisan office only those write-in votes constituting the greatest number of a single political party designation shall be valid for counting purposes when the canvassing authority certifies the official election returns.  The same procedure must be followed when paper ballots are used for partisan offices at a state primary or state general election.  For such write-in voting, it shall not be necessary for a voter to write the full name of the political party concerned.  Any abbreviation including the first letter of the political party name shall be acceptable as long as the precinct election officers can determine to their satisfaction the person voted for and the political party intended.

          Any person who is nominated at any primary election as a write-in candidate for any public office but who has not previously paid the regular filing fee shall not have his name printed on the official ballot for the general election unless, within five days after the official canvass of the primary vote, he executes a declaration of candidacy and pays the same fee required by law to be paid by candidates for filing for the office for which he has been nominated.